"We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours."

John of Salisbury (1115~1180)

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

LIBYAN dictator Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi asked an escort agency for 500 "beautiful Italian girls" to be supplied for a gala evening in Rome at which he tried to convert them to Islam, it emerged yesterday.

Col Gaddafi, 67, also requested that they "were aged between 18 and 35 years old, at least 5ft 7in tall and did not wear mini-skirts or plunging necklines, but high heels were OK".

The women, all beautifully dressed, were told to meet at a city centre hotel in the Italian capital, where he is attending a summit on world food security, before being taken to the Libyan ambassador's residence.

Once inside – and after an hour's delay – Col Gaddafi arrived in a white stretch limousine to lecture the women on the superiority of Islam and how they should all convert. He also gave a talk on the Koran and gave them all a copy as a gift as well as a signed copy of his Green Book, an outline of his political philosophy written in 1975. [More here]

In case you're wondering how the evening went, here's what Alessandro Londero, of Rome-based Hostessweb, who supplied the women said in the same report:

"It was a very enjoyable experience and the girls were captivated by the evening.

"Some of them have already been in touch with me to express an interest in going to Libya and seeing the place for themselves and speaking further with Gaddafi about converting to Islam.

"He gave the girls Italian translations of the Koran and of his Green Book, and he said he would be in touch with them to test them and make sure they had read them."

Another report said Gaddafi spoke for one hour during which the women were given nothing to eat or drink. Accompanied by two of his female bodyguards, the Libyan ambassador and an interpreter, he reportedly said, "It is not true that Islam is against women." Before offering each woman a copy of the Koran, he shouted at them: "Convert to Islam, Jesus was sent for the Hebrews, not for you.”